Piccadilly Inn Airport

Hotel at a Glance

The Piccadilly Inn Airport hotel offers a convenient base from which to explore Fresno, the self-declared “Best Little City in the USA.” Downtown you’ll find a handful of museums, including the Fresno Museum of Art, and Mexican restaurants ranging from taco joints to fine-dining spots. And there’s no shortage of recreational activities: thanks to Fresno’s proximity to some of the American West’s most beautiful national parks, world-class hiking and wildlife sightings are easy to come by.

Go swimming: The hotel features a courtyard swimming pool where guests can cool off or soak up the California sunshine.

Get back to nature: Yosemite National Park, Sequoia National Park, and Kings Canyon National Park are all within a two-hour drive.

Shop ‘til you drop: The chic Fig Garden Village feature upscale clothing boutiques, and you’ll find antiques and art galleries in Old Town Clovis.

Play ball: Watch the AAA minor-league Fresno Grizzlies swing for the fences in Chukchansi Park in downtown Fresno.

Neat perk: Fresno Yosemite International Airport is located across the street.

Fresno, California: Valley City with Historical Buildings, Close to Yosemite

One of the largest cities in central California's San Joaquin Valley, Fresno has a well-deserved reputation as a major tourist destination thanks to its proximity to various national forests and parks. It's considered the gateway to Yosemite National Park, located about an hour’s drive away from the nearly 1,200-square-mile wilderness of waterfalls, giant sequoia trees, and granite cliffs. Travel + Leisure considers the park one of America's Best Family Getaways; it’s crisscrossed by biking and hiking trails and plays host to horseback riders, rock climbers, and even skiers in the winter months. Be sure to take a picture at Tunnel View, Yosemite's well-known mountain lookout point, and keep an eye out for resident coyotes that sometimes wander out onto the roads.

Downtown Fresno’s many historic buildings, such as the Water Tower, built in 1894, are also worth a gander. Head just west of downtown to walk through the 1903 Kearney Mansion, once owned by local entrepreneur Martin Theodore Kearney. The mansion’s distinctive French Renaissance style of architecture was achieved using indigenous materials and Victorian stock moldings, and still retains more than half of its original furnishings.

Just north of downtown, the Tower District is one of the valley's only alternative-culture neighborhoods, lined with trendy cafés, music clubs, and a handful of upscale restaurants. The area got its start as a 1920s shopping destination and was named after the art deco Tower Theatre, which stands today as a center for the performing arts.